ANAHEIM – Here’s what you need to know about the Ducks’ 3-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Friday night:

THE GAME IN 140 CHARACTERS OR FEWER

– Instead of blowing out another bad team after a hot start, the Ducks disengaged and got burned by a Canucks team that wouldn’t roll over.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT

“We take something away from every game I hope. At this time of the year, you don’t just pick it up and throw it away. It’s a game we should have had. We should have had two points today. You need 20 guys playing. We didn’t have all 20 going.”

– Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau

STAT OF THE NIGHT

– Before the loss, the Ducks had gone 11-1-1 in their previous 13 home games.

PLAYER OF THE GAME

– Bo Horvat. The young Vancouver center has had his occasional struggles in growing into the role of the Canucks’ second-line center but he’s a core piece that will be part of their future leadership group. Scored an early tying goal and was part of the game-winning goal for Emerson Etem. Was big in the faceoff circle and had no problem diving in front of a big Sami Vatanen slap shot in the third period.

ANALYSIS

– Bruce Boudreau had this to say about Chris Wagner afterward. “He played well,” Boudreau said. “He might have been our best forward tonight.” It was a brief moment of praise in a shorter post-game meeting with reporters where the coach seethed as he answered each question that came his way. He had reason to be irked. Wagner is a hard-working sort who was certainly excited about being in the lineup after the Ducks called him up from San Diego (AHL). He made his first appearance count by making a power move to the net that allowed Nate Thompson to follow in with a rebound goal for a 2-1 third-period lead. It was Wagner’s first point with the Ducks, who couldn’t sneak him through waivers in November and lost him to Colorado. And they were happy to get him back in late February when the Avalanche tried to do the same thing. Ironically, Wagner scored his first four NHL points – all goals – with the Avs this season.

The thing about praising Wagner is it was also an indictment on many of the other Ducks. The fourth line certainly showed up and they were rewarded with additional shifts in the third period. But the big guys on offense – you know them as Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Ryan Kesler – were here and there but weren’t really there. Not nearly as impactful as they should be. Jakob Silfverberg and Cam Fowler did some nice passing that led to Josh Manson’s first-minute goal but it was a forgettable night for Fowler and Manson. Their play has been very up and down since the blue line was put into flux with Simon Despres and Kevin Bieksa on the shelf due to injuries. And overall, the Ducks might have key players missing throughout their lineup but the ones that suited up still formed a team that should have been better than what the Canucks put on the ice. Except Vancouver outworked them for lengthy stretches while the hosts were content to turn it on when they felt like it and simply do enough to get by otherwise. Except they didn’t get by.

KEY MOMENT

– John Gibson (25 saves) will certainly want this tying short-side goal back by low-scoring Vancouver defenseman Dan Hamhuis but the play started with the Ducks being unable to get the puck down the ice and allowing the Canucks to gain the offensive zone too easily. It happened too often in the game and they would pay for it.

ANY NEWS?

– Plenty. The Ducks announced that center Rickard Rakell had to have his appendix removed after missing Wednesday’s game against Calgary and goalie Frederik Andersen has a concussion that occurred while he played in the second period against the Flames. Hampus Lindholm also missed the game because of the flu. Left wing David Perron has a separated shoulder and will be out another 3-to-5 weeks, which at the earliest could be the first round of the playoffs.

– Left wing Brandon Pirri did not return to the game after being on the receiving end of a hit by Vancouver defenseman Nikita Tryamkin in the second period. Pirri appeared to be shaken up and slowly left the ice under his own power. Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau only said that he’s day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

– Forward Linden Vey and left wing Chris Higgins did not play for the Canucks in the third period. Vey did not return because of an upper-body injury while Higgins suffered a lower-body ailment.

MORE POSTGAME QUOTES

BRUCE BOUDREAU

(on the third period after taking the lead …)

“I think on both their goals, it all started when we didn’t get the puck deep. We talk about protecting the lead and how you protect the lead is you don’t turn pucks over. And when you turn pucks over, they end up usually in your net. We turned one over at the blue line and we didn’t get it deep from the red line. So those things happen. You don’t like it and hopefully we’ll learn from it. But that’s what happened.”

(on whether the absences of Rakell, Lindholm and others affected them …)

“You use that, it’s a crutch or an excuse. We had enough guys. We should have been able to go.”

(on Pirri not coming back in the game …)

“Right now, it’s just a day-to-day upper-body injury. That’s the way we’re looking at it.”

(on giving the fourth line more ice time …)

“I think it was because they were playing well. When you’re trying to win a game and you have to shorten the bench, it’s whoever’s going the best. And those guys were going pretty good.”

(on whether he was happy with the first 10 minutes of the third …)

“Other than those two mistakes, we were pretty good in the third. We outshot them 20-6. We make two mistakes and it’s in the back of our net both times.”

(on their game leveling off after the first 10 minutes …)

“I would agree with that. We definitely didn’t play a 60-minute game. We haven’t played a 60-minute game for a while. Our next two opponents (Dallas and Winnipeg) are pretty difficult. We’ll get a real test on Sunday.”

(on whether that is needed for his team …)

“I don’t know. We’ll soon see. It’ll either be an eye opener or we’ll rise to the occasion. One of the two.”

NATE THOMPSON

(on his overview of the game …)

“I think it was just up and down. We had spurts where we were good and other times we were sloppy. We weren’t good in all different areas of the ice. It caught up to us.”

(on if there’s a challenge with playing non-playoff teams …)

“It shouldn’t. It doesn’t matter. Every team is in the NHL for a reason. These are all NHL players. Guys competing to play. They had a big win last night against a good San Jose team. They came in ready tonight and we weren’t.”

(on their absences being a challenge to their depth …)

“I think we’ve dealt with it all year. Guys have gone down and you’ve got a different guy to step up. We have to continue to do that. It’s that time of year where guys are going down no matter what on different teams. Different guys are stepping up. So you can’t make excuses.”

(on his line performing …)

“I thought we were pretty good. It’s always good to get rewarded with a goal. But at the same time it still doesn’t matter because it’s a loss in the column.”

JOSH MANSON

(on the Ducks being inconsistent in the game …)

“I think so. Anytime you get a one-goal lead in the third period on a team for where we’re heading, you’ve got to be able to keep them down and win those games and find ways. Where we’re going, it’s a really important part of the game.”

(on their play leveling off after another strong start …)

“Yeah, I guess you can say that. We had spurts of the way we wanted to play but consistency is a key word. We got to find that a little bit. After the first goal, you want to keep pushing and kind of step on teams when we’ve got them up like that. We just got to work on that.”

EMERSON ETEM

(on his winning goal …)

“I just thought we had a good forecheck. We were definitely building momentum. Our top line obviously scored a few shifts prior and we just kind of kept on it. It was a great forecheck by our line. Was able to get the shot through and just stuck with the rebound there.”

(on doing it in front of his friends and family …)

“I’ve got a lot of family here. It’s been nice. They supported me pretty much every game when I was here, watching every game. It’s nice to have them here once again. Definitely feels good.”

JANNIK HANSEN

(on his team’s mentality going forward …)

“It’s hard to see where we are in the standings, but we have a lot of pride as a team. It’s not fun losing. As a player you approach every game and try to win them in whatever way possible. It’s always nicer in the locker-room when you’re winning. It builds the team, not only for right now, but coming into next year there is a lot of learning for a lot of guys, and their getting thrown into a lot of situations that will benefit them down the road.”

POSTGAME NOTES

• Josh Manson scored his fifth goal of the season but was on the ice for all three goals against.

• Ryan Getzlaf had a team-leading five shots on goal and went 9-for-16 on faceoffs.

• Ryan Garbutt played 12:10 and had four shots on goal, his most in a game since joining the Ducks.

• Chris Wagner got his first point with the Ducks and had three shots and a team-leading five hits.

• Ryan Kesler lost 13 of his 22 faceoffs but the Ducks had a 31-28 edge on the dot.

• Shea Theodore had a plus-1 rating in 19:37 but was also credited with three giveaways.

• Nate Thompson had four hits and scored his second goal of the season.

• Vancouver’s Jannik Hansen had two assists and a plus-1 rating in 18:35 of ice time.

• Alex Biega had an assist, plus-2 rating and team-leading six hits for the Canucks.

• Canucks rookie Jared McCann had a team-leading five shots on goal.

• Vancouver defenseman Matt Bartkowski had a plus-2 rating in 19:56.

DUCKS RECORD/STANDING

43-24-10 (24-10-5 at home, 19-14-5 on road), second place in Pacific Division

Eric Stephens has been covering the Ducks and the NHL for news outlets since 2005 and for the Orange County Register since 2009. Now happily spreading the hockey gospel throughout the Southern California News Group. Has covered three Stanley Cup Finals and (sadly) one NHL lockout. Once took up an invitation to a fan's tailgate barbecue at the College World Series. Has all sorts of genres on his iPod and tries his best in whatever he does most of the time. Only the grits at Waffle House come close to his. Eternal goal: Be better.

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